(Author's Note)
Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!! :) So as you may have already noticed, I published a Prologue as a gift for you, and I also added a paragraph to the first chapter. I was going to add that whole thing later, but i decided that for the sake of plot and not wanting any holes, because I'm going to reference it later, that it would fit better as a prologue. So go read that! And I will be working on the next chapter to publish it hopefully in the beginning of January. So enjoy this one!
At 1:00, they gave us an hour for a lunch break, in which time we were expected to go back up to our district suites and eat with our mentor and escort. Chet and I got into the first elevator with Sarah and Marcus from Sevii, and were soon dropped off on our floor, a few feet from the door of our suite. There was another huge feast waiting for us in the dining area. Flint and Dessi were already seated at the table.
"So? How did the first half of your first day of training go?" Flint asked excitedly.
"Um, OK, I guess." I responded, loading food onto my plate.
"Have you interacted with any of the other tributes?" Dessi inquired.
"Yeah. Marcus from Sevii and Branden from Sinnoh. They're both cool with forming an alliance." Chet replied before shoving an entire dinner roll in his mouth.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Dessi clapped her hands together and clutched them in front of her, as if she was being overdramatically cliche on purpose. But with Dessi, who knows? "Bethany? What about you?"
I shrugged. I had talked to Claire a lot, and really wanted to ally with her, but I didn't want mentors to get involved yet. I wanted to make sure that Claire wanted to be my ally, too, before I made anything final. Plus I didn't really want to hear commentary about how cute little underdog tributes get a lot of pity sponsors but won't last long in the Games unless you protect them because they're cute and small, so they're obviously weak and defenseless. I wasn't going to use her just to get a few sponsors. That wasn't the point.
"I dunno. I was just learning a bunch of the survival skills, talking to the tributes that were there." Which was Claire the whole time, but they don't need to know that.
"That's okay. Sometimes you just gotta view your options and not rush into things to fast. But I would start taking a more serious approach soon, or else everyone else will group together and you'll have to scramble to find someone who'll take you." Flint warned.
"Well now, I don't think she'll have too much trouble," Dessi countered, "She did make a splash at the Parade with her Charmander costume. Nobody will forget that tail flame anytime soon!"
"Still," Flint turned back to me, "start making some acquaintances. You want to be on people's radar, in a good way. Just be careful to pick out the good ones."
"Ok. I think I'll be fine, I just have to talk to people."
"Alright, but do it soon. The sooner you get on with the other tributes, the sooner I'll be able to finalize alliances with their mentors."
I made a "mm-hmm" sound as I took another bite of food and tried not to let myself get too stressed out over the whole alliance thing.
Just find one more person, I told myself, someone who is ok with forming an alliance with Claire too, and you'll be fine. I hoped.
For the rest of lunch, I pondered the alliance issue. It would be difficult to find someone trustworthy out of the other 10 tributes. Well, there were really only 7 to consider, because I had the impression that Chet and his little friends weren't going to want to have anything to do with me, judging by the way he glared at me. Sometimes it made me wonder what I ever did to that kid to be avoided to the point of being completely ignored.
I ate until the thought of putting one more forkful of food in my mouth sickened me. Then I excused myself from the table and got back into the elevator to go back down to training. It was just a few minutes until 2:00 anyway, there was no sense in waiting around until the exact moment the clock struck 2.
I pushed the correct button and felt myself sinking downwards with the elevator. Within the minute, it dinged, and the doors slid open. I stepped out and walked toward the training room doors, which were still closed. A handful of the older tributes were gathered around, waiting for the doors to open. A few of them were chatting, and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to scope out another ally. By the time I reached them, however, the doors had swung back and propped themselves open, allowing the tributes into the training room.
I sighed and followed them through the doors. Since Claire and I had already gone to a lot of the stations in the survival training area, I decided to head toward the battle training this afternoon instead. I walked up to the first empty station I saw, which happened to be Pokeball use. There were shelves full of Pokeballs, and an open battle floor with targets painted on it. I quickly scrolled through the instructions and tips on the computer screen above the shelf. Basically, all this station was supposed to teach me was to throw a Pokeball accurately.
I grabbed one of the red and white ping-pong ball sized spheres and pushed the button to expand it to its full size. I focused on the nearest floor target, and threw the ball. It opened in midair and released a stream of energy that formed a Bidoof Pokedoll, then reversed its direction and flew directly back at me, following the same course. I reached out to grab it, and missed. The ball clattered to the floor noisily, attracting the attention of the tributes at neighboring stations. I blushed deeply and dove for the ball before it could roll away. I finally grabbed it and looked up. The Bidoof doll was on its side, about two feet to the right of the target. I aimed the Pokeball again, and somehow managed to hit the Bidoof's foot, causing the Pokeball to open and encapsulate the stream of energy formed by the Pokedoll. The Pokeball was again sent back to me on the same course that it was thrown. However, I was ready for it this time, and managed to catch it with both hands.
I practiced for about 15 more minutes, releasing and catching again plastic figures of various Pokemon. By about the fifth try, I was managing to catch the Pokeball on both of its return trips, and by the tenth try, I was actually managing to get the Pokemon figures somewhat on the targets each time. Although Pokeballs were relatively lightweight, my arm was tired by the time I quit.
I decided to try out a station which required less physical activity next. I walked around the battle training stations, settling on the type effectiveness station, which was also empty. There were two tablets on stands in front of a screen that showed a battlefield. I stationed myself at the left tablet, and hit the start button. A Shroomish appeared on the far side of the battlefield, facing me.
Two Pokemon appeared on the tablet, a Vulpix and a Chinchou. Instructions appeared that told me to Choose the Pokemon that would be most effective. I tapped the Vulpix, and it appeared on the screen facing toward the Shroomish. Four boxes that read "Quick Attack," 'Extrasensory," "Flamethrower," and "Payback," and instructions reading Select the most effective move appeared on the tablet. I clicked on the box that read "Flamethrower," and little flames moved from my Vulpix to the Shroomish on the screen. The Shroomish dropped off the screen and little text appeared on the bottom that said It's super effective! Foe Shroomish fainted! The tablet and screen glowed green, then a new scenario appeared.
That was the basic concept of that station, each time asking for the most or least effective Pokemon or move. The more I got right, the more options began appearing for each scenario. After a few minutes, I saw someone walk up to the other tablet.
"It's more fun with an opponent," a girl with slightly wavy, light brown with-a-tint-of-red hair grinned at me. "Aaron Castella," she introduced herself, sticking out her hand. I took it.
"You're from Johto, right?" She nodded in response. I began to introduce myself as well. "I'm-"
"Oh, everyone knows who you are, Bethany Jennings," Aaron interjected. "You're the girl who stole everyone's spotlight at the parade. Fire girl, they're calling you now."
"Oh," I said, taken off-guard. I couldn't think of an intelligent response, so I just settled for oh.
"Yeah. Let's just see if fire girl has some skills to back up her image, shall we?" Aaron turned to the tablet and pushed the start button.
My tablet flashed at me. Choose a Pokemon, and underneath the text were four options. A Sewaddle, a Cranidos, an Electrike, and a Poliwhirl. The last three I knew were all single types, but Sewaddle was a double, bug and grass. I tapped the Sewaddle, and it appeared on the screen. Aaron tapped something on her tablet, and a Butterfree appeared. I was confused for a moment. They were both bug types, and bug wasn't effective against grass. What was she playing at?
My tablet flashed again. Select the most effective move. Tackle, Bug Bite, Razor Leaf, and Bug Buzz were my choices. None of them seemed like they would have much effect. I reluctantly touched tackle. The Sewaddle on the screen moved to touch the Butterfree, then went back to its place. The move had a normal effect. Aaron, with a barely noticeable smirk, tapped her tablet, and animated wind appeared from her Butterfree's wings and hit my Sewaddle.
It's super effective! The screen flashed as the Sewaddle dropped off the screen.
"Flying beats bug," The older girl said, a bit smugly. I flushed with anger.
"Well, let's see how round two goes," I said, not quite as coolly as I had hoped.
This time, she was required to send out the first Pokemon. She tapped a button, and a Chinchou appeared.
My options appeared on the tablet. Pidgey, Magby, Swinub, or Shuppet. II thought for a moment, then clicked Swinub.
Aaron clicked a move. Bubbles moved from the Chinchou to the Swinub, damaging it a bit. It's super effective! She grinned.
I looked down at my tablet hopefully. Please be there, please be there. I begged silently. When my move options appeared, I had to exert all my self-control to not do a fist-pump. I instead clicked the button triumphantly, and watched as the screen started to shake.
Swinub used Earthquake. It's super effective! Scrolled on the bottom of the screen as the Chinchou dropped out of sight.
I smirked at Aaron, who was glaring at me, and touched my next Pokemon.
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"Pokemon naming?"
"That's too boring."
We had played the type effectiveness activity for a few more rounds, and we were pretty evenly matched. We soon became bored with the station, and decided to try something else to determine which of us was the better of the two, though neither of us admitted that that was our intent. Besides, a little friendly competition took my mind off of why it was we were here in the first place.
"Pokemon control?"
"Ooh, definitely."
We moved to the station that focused on controlling Pokemon. It was set up similar to the simulated battlefield at the Type effectiveness station, only in real space, and not on a screen. Also, there were various Pokemon dummies on the far side of the field. There were two Pokemon guards there, each with two beltfuls full of Pokeballs, Great balls, and Ultra balls.
They greeted us and gave us a brief introduction to the station. Basically, they would give us Pokeballs with weak Pokemon inside, we would release them onto the battlefield and command them to attack the dummies. If the weak Pokemon listened to us, they would give us stronger and stronger Pokemon to see if we could handle especially strong or stubborn Pokemon.
We were reminded that Pokemon control depended largely on the Pokemon's initial impression of us as a trainer, and on what we were asking it to do. Experience with Pokemon was the only real way to improve initial control skills, and since none of the tributes had ever dealt with Pokemon before (legally, at least), experience wasn't going to be a factor in the initial exposure tests.
We could only go one at a time, so Aaron went first. The guard gave her a Pokeball, labeled with the move Absorb, that contained a Sunkern. Sunkern was the weakest Pokemon, by base stats at least. She controlled it easily, then returned it and gave the Pokeball to me. I released it, it followed my command, and then I returned it. I was extremely glad that I had practiced throwing Pokeballs before this, otherwise I would have made a fool of myself.
Anyway, we continued making our way up the list of Pokemon: easily controlling Happiny, Spinarak, Nidoran, Pikachu, Shellos, and Growlithe. It was when Aaron released a Nosepass that our streak began to falter.
"Use tackle," Aaron commanded. The compass Pokemon moved toward the dummies, but slowed to a stop before hitting one.
"Nosepass, tackle!" She demanded more sharply. The Nosepass quickly tackled the dummy, but didn't put as much force behind it as he probably could have.
Aaron scowled and returned the Pokemon, then handed the Pokeball to me..
"Go, Nosepass!" I released the Nosepass again onto the battlefield. "Nosepass, tackle that dummy." It hesitated for a split second, but then tackled the closest dummy full-force. "Good!" I praised the Pokemon, then sent it back into its Pokeball.
The next Pokeball contained a Wailmer, which Aaron quickly commanded to use water gun. A bit of water gurgled from the Pokemon's mouth before it growled at the dummies.
"No, use water gun, not growl!" Aaron called. The Wailmer just growled again, more water dribbling from its mouth.
Growling herself, Aaron threw the Great ball back at the Wailmer to return it then slapped the blue, white, and red ball into my hands.
I released the Pokemon.
"Wailmer, use water gun." The whale Pokemon shot a stream of water at a random dummy. "Good, Wailmer, return." I said as its Great ball transformed it back into a stream of energy and closed around it.
I gave the Great ball back to the first guard, and the second guard took the first of the Ultra balls out of his belt. Aaron reached for it, but the guard lifted it away from her hand and placed it in mine instead. Luckily, the strong-willed girl knew better than to argue with a Pokemon Guard, and simply crossed her arms and eyed me.
I quickly turned away from her and released the Pokemon in the Ultra ball. The red stream of energy formed a Charmeleon in front of me.
"Charmeleon, use ember!" I called. The Pokemon obeyed, blowing sparks at a dummy. I silently returned the Charmeleon and gave the Pokeball back to the guard.
The next Pokemon, a Granbull, reluctantly followed my instruction, but the next, Crustle, ignored me completely. After a bit of pleading, I reluctantly returned it to its Pokeball.
"For initial Pokemon exposure: Aaron Castella, maxed out at Base Stat 400. Bethany Jennings, maxed out at Base Stat 475." One of the guards announced. "Remember, this is only initial exposure. In the games, when you train a Pokemon from a low level, it will be more likely to listen to you even as it grows much stronger."
I nodded and thanked the guard, then turned to leave. However, Aaron was standing in my way.
"Good game. You win this time, fire girl, but we'll see who the real winner is next time." She smirked, then turned and walked out of the training room. That's when I noticed the clock, which read 4:50. Almost time to go. The room was half empty already.
I wandered back to the Pokeball throwing station, to throw a few more before I called it a day. I was pleased to see that my throws had gotten a lot more accurate in the last few hours.
At 4:55, a voice on a speaker system gave us a five minute warning. I put away the Pokeballs that I had out, and made my way to the exit.
"So, scoped out any possible allies, Bethany?" Flint asked me as soon as I had walked into the dining room.
"Maybe," I replied, as I sat down and started eating.
"Well, tell me who so I can get in touch with their mentors, and see if I can finalize anything."
Finalize. That seemed so... final. I hadn't even met a third of the tributes yet, and he was already talking about finalization.
Well, I knew I wanted to ally with Claire. Aaron seemed like she would make a strong ally as well.
"Talk to the mentors of Clarissa Richards and Aaron Castella. See what they think."
Flint practically started glowing.
"But talk to Claire's mentor first. If she says yes, make sure Aaron knows that Claire and I are a package deal." This caused his smile to droop.
"Bethany, are you sure? Sure, Claire has sponsor appeal, but Aaron seems like a more... qualified candidate. Maybe I'd better talk to her mentor first, and once the two of you are finalized, then we can discuss adding Claire into the mixture..."
"No. Claire first. And if Aaron isn't 100% ok with having Claire as an ally, then don't even bother." I insisted, staring Flint straight in the eyes. I was tired, physically and mentally, and because of that, any and all subtlety I would have used in my requests went straight out the window.
"Beth, sleep on it. Go to training again tomorrow. Talk to the other tributes. If by lunchtime, you haven't changed your mind, then so be it. But I won't finalize anything until then."
"Well, what happened to Mr. I-Need-To-Finalize-Everything-Before-It's-Too-Late? Huh?"
"Trust me, Beth, Claire is not going to have many other offers anytime soon."
"Well, all the more reason to just form the alliance already!" I cried, exasperated.
"Beth, you're tired. You're stressed. You're not thinking straight."
"Oh, aren't I, though?"
Flint didn't reply. I was so irritated with him that I just couldn't stand it. I stood abruptly and marched off to my room. I brushed against Dessi on my way out the door, but didn't stop to apologise. I just kept walking until I was in my assigned room, and the door had slammed shut. I flopped down on the bed, pushed my face into one of the overly-puffy pillows, and felt like screaming, or sobbing. I didn't know what to do anymore.